How pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection influence male mating decisions in a promiscuous species

Órfão, Inês; Ojanguren, Alfredo F.; Barbosa, Miguel; Vicente, Luís; Varela, Susana A. M.; Magurran, Anne E.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.12.013

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus, when faced with a better rival, the focal male may overcome his reduced chances of reproductive success by investing in the mating tactic that maximizes his attractiveness and potentially increase his fitness. Moreover, male guppies tend to invest more in mating behaviours when their risks of losing both mate and fertilization success are high (Órfão et al, ). All this lends support for the hypothesis that coevolution between male mating behaviours and male attractive traits is shaped by both female choice and male–male competition (Kuijper, Pen, & Weissing, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Me against who? Male guppies adjust mating behaviour according to their rival’s presence and attractiveness

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sexual selection theory suggests that males need to constantly reappraise their mating decisions to take account of the presence and the phenotypes of their rivals. Here we examine this expectation by asking: (i) If the presence of a rival influences male mating behaviour; (ii) How important is the attractiveness of the rival (absolute attractiveness) in shaping male behaviour; and (iii) How does a male's attractiveness in comparison to his rival (relative attractiveness) influence a male's mating decisions. Using the Trinidadian guppy, a species in which female mate choice (based on males’ attractive traits) plays an important role in male mating outcomes, we recorded the frequency of courtship displays and unsolicited attempts by focal males. First, we quantified focal male mating behaviour with and without a rival. Since the probability of a successful mating is, on average, halved by the presence of a rival, we predicted that under competition the focal male would invest more in less costly mating tactic—unsolicited attempts. Second, we examined how the rival's standard length and area of orange coloration mediated focal male mating behaviour. We found that rival presence influenced how focal males responded to females in terms of both mating tactics. However, the rival attractiveness elicited changes only in male courtship display. Focal males increased courtship display rate if his rival was small or if possessed large amounts of orange, regardless of considering rival absolute or relative attractiveness. Our results show that males invest in the costlier mating tactic when there is no rival or in the presence of a smaller rival. Interestingly, they make a similar investment in the presence of an attractive orange rival. Overall, this study highlights the importance of fine‐grained male decisions in mating encounters and shows that mating tactics are differentially shaped by multiple competition risk cues.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Me against who? Male guppies adjust mating behaviour according to their rival’s presence and attractiveness

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another alternative to the deception hypothesis explaining the audience effect in the context of male mate choice might be male competition for mates. Here, focal males alter their mate choice to adjust their reproductive success to the currently perceived social competitive context [ 128 , 129 ]. In experiments testing the effect of competition, the focal male can first choose between two females.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test of the Deception Hypothesis in Atlantic Mollies Poecilia mexicana—Does the Audience Copy a Pretended Mate Choice of Others?

Witte

Baumgärtner

Röhrig

et al. 2018

Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animals often use public information for mate-choice decisions by observing conspecifics as they choose their mates and then copying this witnessed decision. When the copier, however, is detected by the choosing individual, the latter often alters its behavior and spends more time with the previously non-preferred mate. This behavioral change is called the audience effect. The deception hypothesis states that the choosing individual changes its behavior to distract the audience from the preferred mate. The deception hypothesis, however, only applies if the audience indeed copies the pretended mate choice of the observed individual. So far, this necessary prerequisite has never been tested. We investigated in Atlantic molly males and females whether, first, focal fish show an audience effect, i.e., alter their mate choices in the presence of an audience fish, and second, whether audience fish copy the mate choice of the focal fish they had just witnessed. We found evidence that male and female Atlantic mollies copy the pretended mate choice of same-sex focal fish. Therefore, a necessary requirement of the deception hypothesis is fulfilled. Our results show that public information use in the context of mate choice can be costly.

show abstract

Shifts in Reproductive Investment in Response to Competitors Lower Male Reproductive Success

Spagopoulou

Vega‐Trejo

Head

et al. 2020

The American Naturalist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection influence male mating decisions in a promiscuous species

Cited by 3 publications

References 65 publications

Me against who? Male guppies adjust mating behaviour according to their rival’s presence and attractiveness

Me against who? Male guppies adjust mating behaviour according to their rival’s presence and attractiveness

Test of the Deception Hypothesis in Atlantic Mollies Poecilia mexicana—Does the Audience Copy a Pretended Mate Choice of Others?

Shifts in Reproductive Investment in Response to Competitors Lower Male Reproductive Success

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About